Pope Innocent X, c.1650 (oil on canvas) Rome, Galleria Doria Pamphilij.
Rubens suggested that Velasquez should visit Rome to study the paintings of the Italian masters. He painted this intense portrait of the powerful Pope when, he visited a second time in 1649-50. In the pope's hand he holds the painter's petition for a knighthood. The painting is in no way stylised and we feel we are looking at a true representation of the man. By posing the figure in a three-quarter view, Velasquez gives the pontif a stern, sideways glance. The artist's impressionistic brushwork manages to contrast the different qualities of the sitter's fine clothes and the strong, hard lines of his chair of office. Three centuries later, the modern painter Francis Bacon would use the composition as a source for his expressionist work 'Study After Velasquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X' and related paintings.
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